Yes. Steps to combat undue influence include term limits, elimination of corporate funding in elections, and (as you have proposed), an agency that provides independent research and assists with drafting legislation. And no insider trading by members of Congress, or any trading while in office. So what’s the incentive to run for office? Perhaps more civic minded individuals are discouraged by present conditions. I don’t know.
That’s precisely what I’m going after!!! Incentives and disincentives. Right now there’s a huge incentive to get in Congress, toe the party line and amass personal wealth through insider trading.
This is why in the 118th and 119th Congresses more than 10 bills banning trading have been introduced, 3 made it out of committee, 0 (zero!) make it to the floor.
That’s why I say we need to fix the floor scheduling mechanism so that leaders can’t just dodge the bills they don’t like and make the votes private so legislators can vote without retaliation from the party.
There will be blowback over private voting. The public likes being able to see how legislators have voted as part of monitoring Congressional action. I think it may be more productive to shine a light on how party members are influenced by leadership.
I recognize that. That's why the solution I developed is delayed attribution.
Votes would remain private until just before the member is up for re-election. Then the member's voting records would be released (like Alaska's report cards) so constituents can still exercise democratic accountability.
But by keeping the records private, lobbyists and party leadership can't hold the member accountable before voters. Does that make sense?
Right now lobbyists and party leaders can "hold the member accountable" immediately after the vote, but we constituents have to wait until the next election (2-6 years). That puts us at a huge disadvantage.
“A long habit of not thinking something wrong, gives it the superficial appearance of being right.” - Thomas Paine.
The US constitution itself, is the origin of the rot. Any tweaks to existing systems without structural change, do not eliminate the rot. Nature operates out in the open, without opacity. Heck, until citizen’’ united is overturned, everything is mute.
The US constitution is structurally DESIGNED to prevent democracy and is the exact opposite of what Paine defined in Common Sense.
“I draw my idea of the form of government from a principle in nature which no art can overturn, viz. that the more simple any thing is, the less liable it is to be disordered” - Thomas Paine.
Any system that violates Ashby’s law of requisite variety, is doomed to collapse, it’s just a matter of time. That’s not opinion, it’s physics.
“It is only by setting out on just principles that men are trained to be just to each other; and it will always be found, that when the rich protect the rights of the poor, the poor will protect the property of the rich. But the guarantee, to be effectual, must be parliamentarily reciprocal.” - Thomas Paine
What good is a constitution that doesn’t hold those we elected accountable? (FDPs = RE → Reciplcial Ethics, IH → Intellectual Honest, DA → Distributed agency)
Yes. Steps to combat undue influence include term limits, elimination of corporate funding in elections, and (as you have proposed), an agency that provides independent research and assists with drafting legislation. And no insider trading by members of Congress, or any trading while in office. So what’s the incentive to run for office? Perhaps more civic minded individuals are discouraged by present conditions. I don’t know.
DING! DING! DING!
That’s precisely what I’m going after!!! Incentives and disincentives. Right now there’s a huge incentive to get in Congress, toe the party line and amass personal wealth through insider trading.
This is why in the 118th and 119th Congresses more than 10 bills banning trading have been introduced, 3 made it out of committee, 0 (zero!) make it to the floor.
That’s why I say we need to fix the floor scheduling mechanism so that leaders can’t just dodge the bills they don’t like and make the votes private so legislators can vote without retaliation from the party.
There will be blowback over private voting. The public likes being able to see how legislators have voted as part of monitoring Congressional action. I think it may be more productive to shine a light on how party members are influenced by leadership.
I recognize that. That's why the solution I developed is delayed attribution.
Votes would remain private until just before the member is up for re-election. Then the member's voting records would be released (like Alaska's report cards) so constituents can still exercise democratic accountability.
But by keeping the records private, lobbyists and party leadership can't hold the member accountable before voters. Does that make sense?
Right now lobbyists and party leaders can "hold the member accountable" immediately after the vote, but we constituents have to wait until the next election (2-6 years). That puts us at a huge disadvantage.
Makes sense.
“A long habit of not thinking something wrong, gives it the superficial appearance of being right.” - Thomas Paine.
The US constitution itself, is the origin of the rot. Any tweaks to existing systems without structural change, do not eliminate the rot. Nature operates out in the open, without opacity. Heck, until citizen’’ united is overturned, everything is mute.
The US constitution is structurally DESIGNED to prevent democracy and is the exact opposite of what Paine defined in Common Sense.
“I draw my idea of the form of government from a principle in nature which no art can overturn, viz. that the more simple any thing is, the less liable it is to be disordered” - Thomas Paine.
Any system that violates Ashby’s law of requisite variety, is doomed to collapse, it’s just a matter of time. That’s not opinion, it’s physics.
“It is only by setting out on just principles that men are trained to be just to each other; and it will always be found, that when the rich protect the rights of the poor, the poor will protect the property of the rich. But the guarantee, to be effectual, must be parliamentarily reciprocal.” - Thomas Paine
What good is a constitution that doesn’t hold those we elected accountable? (FDPs = RE → Reciplcial Ethics, IH → Intellectual Honest, DA → Distributed agency)